1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automobile child seat that is secured to a seat of an automobile by using a seat belt mounted on the automobile.
2. Description of the Background Art
Automobile child seats are disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 2003-94994 and H10-250426 of unexamined applications.
A seat belt mounted on a vehicle is generally used as means for fixing a child seat to a seat of the vehicle. In the case where a child seat is fixed to a seat of a vehicle by using only a seat belt, the child seat sometimes tilts forward and becomes unstable in case of sudden braking operation, front collision, and the like. Japanese Patent Publication No. 2003-94994 of unexamined applications discloses a structure of a support leg of a child seat. The support leg functioning as a tension rod is mounted to the front part of the child seat in order to prevent such forward tilting of the child seat. Since a lower end of the support leg abuts on the floor of a vehicle, frontward tilting of the child seat is prevented.
Japanese Patent Publication No. H10-250426 of unexamined applications discloses an automobile child seat capable of being used for newborns, infants, toddlers, and even school-age children. In order to enable such long-term use, the child seat includes a base body and a seat body rotatably supported by the base body. The seat body includes a seat portion and a reclinable backrest portion. The child seat secured to a seat of an automobile is selectively switchable among a state in which the seat body faces sideways in a bed shape, a state in which the seat body faces rearward in a chair shape, and a state in which the seat body faces forward in a chair shape.
In view of the teaching of Japanese Patent Publication No. 2003-94994 of unexamined applications, it can be considered to attach a support leg for preventing forward tilting to the base body disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. H10-250426 of unexamined applications.
Such products have actually already been on the market. However, since an upper end of the support leg is fixedly connected to the base body, the support body cannot effectively prevent forward tilting of the seat body located on the base body. When the seat body is positioned in the forward facing direction in the chair shape, forward tilting of the seat body is prevented by fixing a back wall of the seat body and a standing wall of the base body. When the seat body is positioned in the sideways direction in the bed shape or positioned in the rearward facing direction in the chair shape, on the other hand, a seat belt mounted on a vehicle is threaded through several parts of the seat body and securely fixed in order to prevent forward tilting of the seat body.
Accordingly, the layout (threading path) of the automobile seat belt needs to be changed every time the direction and shape of the seat body are changed. Moreover, the seat belt mounted on the vehicle needs to be released when a child is placed in or taken out of the child seat. Such an operation is troublesome for a user.